I have splashed out and bought myself a portable ambisonic recording setup.
I looked at the Core TetraMic, of which we have one at VIPRE, but decided I really wanted a lower noise floor and so have gone for the Soundfield SPS200 which comes with an excellent plugin to manipulate the image in postproduction. The VVMic and VVteraMic plugins look good, but I feel more comfortable with a large company knowing it will be updated with OS updates etc.
The SPS200 doesn’t require an external hardware processor. Instead, processing software compatible with Pro Tools HD and all platforms supporting VST Multichannel is included, for functions including a to B format conversion and stereo and surround sound decoding and manipulation. The SPS200 uses the same multi-capsule technology as other acclaimed SoundField microphones, and is powered by standard 48V phantom power.
I am pairing this up with an Edirol R-44 Super from Oade Brothers with the Super mic pre upgrade, to minimise self noise. Oade say "The Edirol R44 Super upgrade rebuilds the mic preamps using high speed, very low noise and low distortion op amps that improve intelligibility and low level detail. Components are selected by ear to optimize detail and imaging for ENG, Acoustic Music or Ambient recordings with Ambisonics or Schoeps Surround mics. Improvements are also made to reduce the audible digital noise that contaminates the analog signal path with noise generated by the display, essential for high gain applications."
R-44 case
I will have to be careful to keep the gain settings equal on all 4 channels so that the decoding is OK, but that should not be too much of a problem.
I am using the Core Sound TetraMic Fluffy for the moment
But will probably move to a Rycote pistol grip and Blimp when the bank balance has recovered a little as I am aware these mics have extraordinary low freq. sensitivity which will amplify handling noise.
Some interesting material is available on Angelo Farina's site
and on A and B formats. Also Etien's site over at Ambisonia
Can't wait for it all to arrive and get recording..... yippeeeeee
Hi Garth,
I’d love to hear about how you felt this mic/recorder combo performed for your needs!
Fascinating site…thank you!
Peace,
Jimmy G
Hi Jimmy
Thanks for your comments and interest. I have been using the Soundfield SPS200 quite a bit and finding the surround image from the recordings to be very impressive when decoded in 5.1 and above. The spatialisation and general spread are very good. The Edirol R-44 with the Oade Brothers mic pre upgrade is small and very convenient. I have found the mic pres to still be a little noisy for quiet night time recording of insects and birds etc. I have an RME Quadmic which I intend to use in these more demanding situations and then feed as line input to the R-44. I did a quiet dawn recording yesterday and noted the noise in the R-44 mic pres (Doug Oade did warn me they would not really be up to such a task, so he was clear about the limitations in design) – I am intending to do a similar recording using the QuadMic and see what the difference is. I will post here. Cheers, Garth
Hello!
I know this is an ancient post. If you´re still into this work, I´d be interested to know your experiences with the RME vs the Edirol. I have the Edirol8un-modded), recording with some Shure KSM141, and found the pres to be outrageously noise for quiet recordings. Was the RME up for the task, or have you moved to some even better equip?
Best
-Anders
Hi Anders,
Yes I ended up moving to a sound devices 788T as in reality whilst making ambient sound recordings you need the best microphone preamps you can get, otherwise it is just not worth getting out of bed that early. I find the SPS200 and the sound devices 788 quite good, although the SPS200 produces considerably more noise output than my Schoeps MS pair they would argue this is because there are 4 capsules, but in reality each channel has more noise than I would prefer. Cheers, Garth
Hey again!
Thanks for your reply. Yes, I I´ve come to the same conclusion regarding the preamps. I just purchased a second hand Apogee Mini-me with ADC, and it was a great stepup from the R-44, specially the spatialisation and tonality. When I get the money, I´ll do the same upgrade to the SD-series.
Best
-Anders